FTP Activity
Computing Concepts,  COSC 106 A,
Central College, September 6, 2002
You may work in pairs on this activity, but certain parts should be completed for both members of your group.
Goals Today we will attempt to create a simple HTML document, use FTP (file transfer protocol) to upload this document to the web server at Central College, and view our web page on the internet. We will also set up a folder structure on the web server, specifically for this class. The main purpose is to familiarize ourselves with a simple FTP program, so that in the future (after graduation) we can upload files to a remote web server.
Warning On campus, there is no need to use FTP to upload files onto our web server. We all have a drive icon (the K-drive) that allows us to copy, write, and save files directly to the web server. This easy access to our web server is extremely rare. Most people have to use FTP to get their HTML documents onto the internet, so learning to use a simple FTP program is a valuable experience.

Specifics of www.central.edu Our web server has very few restrictions.

http://www.central.edu/homepages/lintont/
Setting up a folder structure for this class on our web server. So that our grader can easily find your HTML documents, we will mandate a specific folder structure for each of us on www.central.edu.
  1. Login and double click the MyComputer icon.
  2. Double click the K drive icon and then navigate into your folder (it should have the same name as your login name).
  3. In your K drive folder that appears, select File -> New -> Folder.
  4. Name the new folder concepts. If you are not prompted for a name, after Windows creates the New Folder, right click it and select re-name; type the word concepts and press [Enter].
  5. Double click the concepts folder to navigate into it. Inside the concepts folder create a new folder named lesson2 (no spaces, all lowercase).
We will store all of our HTML files for lesson 2 in this lesson2 folder. As we progress through the semester, you should create folders for each lesson (lesson3, lesson4, etc.) inside your concepts folder, and save all of your HTML files for each lesson in the appropriate folder. Once the first person has their folder structure set up, log off and let your partner set up their folder structure on their K drive as well.

Creating our first HTML document.

  1. Open up notepad (a simple text editing program). To do this, click Start -> Programs -> Accessories and then click the notepad icon.
  2. Type the following text into a file and save the file on your H drive as index.html. To save the file, select File -> Save As, navigate to your folder on the H drive then change the save as file type to All Files. Finally type in the name index.html and click SAVE. For now, do not worry about the meaning of the HTML commands or the syntax, just copy these lines carefully (substituting your text in the appropriate places, marked by italics text). Note, the first three lines of the <BODY> are for the first person in your group and the second three lines of the <BODY> are for the other person in your group. If you are working alone, fill in the second three lines as if you were one of your friends here at Central.

    3.  
    <HTML>
    <HEAD>
       <TITLE>Our first web page</TITLE>
    </HEAD>
    <BODY> </BODY>
    </HTML>
  3. Start up the WS_FTP program. To do this, click Start -> Programs -> Utility Programs -> WS_FTP and then select the WS_FTP icon. This should bring up a window similar to the one shown below. If your window doesn't look similar to the one below (it's OK if your window has no information typed in, or different entries typed in) call the instructor over. Type in the information shown below, changing lintont to whatever your login name is. Once you have the correct information entered in the session properties windows, click the [Save] button and then click [OK] to connect to Central's web server.
window for connecting
  1. A popup window should appear that asks you for your password (same password used to login with). After entering your password, you should see a screen somewhat similar to the one below. On the left is your local machine (the PC you're sitting at) and on the right is the remote computer (www.central.edu) that you are connected to via FTP. If you entered the proper information in the connect window, you will already be at your homepages folder on the remote machine. If not, navigate to homepages and then to your folder (by scrolling and double clicking). The current directories (folders) will be displayed near the top of each side of this window. The green arrow moves you up one level in the folder hierarchy, and other drive letters (like H, K etc.) are located near the bottom of the window. On the left side, navigate to the folder holding your newly created index.html file (i.e. to the H drive). Click once on the index.html file to select it. On the right side, navigate to your home web folder for this class, namely the lesson2 subfolder of the concepts folder you created above (mine is /homepages/lintont/concepts/lesson2). In the middle of the screen, press the put arrow icon (an arrow that runs from left to right). You should now have just managed to send your HTML document to the web server via FTP! You can select many files (use control-click or shift-click to select multiple files) and press one of the two arrow icons to either upload files to the web server (use the -> arrow), or download files from the web server (use the <- arrow).
  1. Click the [Close] button in the FTP window and then the [Exit] button to shut down the WS_FTP program.
  2. Start Internet Explorer and enter the URL http://www.central.edu/homepages/yourloginname/concepts/lesson2 to see your web page! If it doesn't show up, something went wrong, call your instructor over.
  3. Using MyComputer, navigate to your K drive and see if the file index.html appeared in your lesson2 folder. It should have, since the K drive is just a shortcut to www.central.edu/homepages/! In the future, to put files on the internet, you can simply copy them to your K drive (using Windows or drag and drop, not an FTP program).
  4. Once you see your webpage live on the internet, send an email message to the other member of your group. Attach your index.html file to that email message. Log out, let your partner login and then help them upload the simple.html file to their folder on www.central.edu, using WS_FTP again.
Things to notice about the HTML file and the web page it creates.